Stem cells successfully treat diabetes associated with cancer therapy
Cancer immunotherapies employ the use of immune checkpoint inhibitors which may include unwanted side effects such as type 1 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease characterised by insufficient insulin secretion – strategies for preventing or curing type 1 diabetes are still lacking. Researchers from Osaka University in Japan have found using stem cells can modulate the adverse immune-related effects of cancer therapy.
It was found that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), derived from human adipose/fat cells, prevented the influx of immune cells to the pancreas thereby avoiding disruption to insulin production. In experiments, there was only 19% incidence of type 1 diabetes in a small group of mice treated with MSCs, compared to 64% incidence in untreated mice.
Further experiments showed that MSCs secreted factors (such as exosomes) that protected pancreatic cells against immune attack.
Of course, the treatment is still a long way off ever being used in humans – larger studies need to be conducted to investigate the potential for MSCs to help prevent type 1 diabetes induced by immune checkpoint inhibition.
